Month: August 2023

5443. Queen’s Road (1)

Rose Popay, Queen's Road, Bristol, August 2023
Rose Popay, Queen’s Road, Bristol, August 2023

Although there has been no formal Upfest festival this year, the team at Upfest have been very busy organising Westonwallz in Weston-super-mare and a small ‘takeover’ of closed retail outlets on the Bristol Triangle in partnership with Bristol BID (Business Improvement District) to celebrate 650 years since King Edward III granted important rights and privileges to Bristol by royal charter in 1373.

Several empty shopfronts were painted between 20 and 23 July as part of the paint jam, and this one was painted by Rose Popay, an artist originally from Baath. The overall theme for the paintings was to paint in a Renaissance style to reflect the 650 years, not a spray can in sight!

Rose Popay, Queen's Road, Bristol, August 2023
Rose Popay, Queen’s Road, Bristol, August 2023

Rose Popay has painted three panels in her contribution to the event, the first providing a little bit of information on a scroll, and the other two presenting iconic images of Bristol, a balloon and the Clifton suspension bridge. Liberally decorated with flowers and big blue skies with clouds, the piece is a breath of fresh air in this bustling part of the city.

5442. M32 roundabout J3 (504)

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2023
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2023

Face 1st going solo, perhaps none of his PWA friends were free to paint or maybe he simply fancied painting on his own for a change. It looks like Face 1st needed to scratch an itch and managed to do just that with these two pieces on the roundabout.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2023
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2023

The red/orange and green colours of the first piece work exceptionally well and have a rather natural feel about them. The piece takes us back to the standard form for a Face 1st piece, that is a laughing girl (with gloop) and the letters FACE making up her big hair. I suspect Face 1st could probably paint these in his sleep.

Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2023
Face 1st, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2023

The second piece is not dissimilar in its overall form, but the smiling girl is more of a toothy girl and her hair has sprinkles and candles, which makes me wonder whether this is a quick birthday celebration piece for somebody close to the artist. Both pieces are full of fun and mischief, as we would expect from the prolific PWA man.

5441. Greenbank (90)

Unity, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2023
Unity, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2023

Popular culture has had a bit of a renaissance recently with the release of the Barbie move, which I must confess left me a little cold. For all the hype, clever role-reversals, and funny one-liners, I can’t help feeling that Mattel will be laughing all the way to the bank and that their self-deprecating and rather too knowing involvement has paid off. I guess there is a failure on my part to connect with Barbie as a concept, as her world and mine never collided until now.

On the upside though, Barbie has been an inspiration in the street art world, and this piece by Unity, is one of many from an RBF- Barbie paint jam on the long hoarding at Greenbank (more from this paint jam to follow).

Unity, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2023
Unity, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2023

Unity is an artist in the RBF crew who lives in Wales and occasionally comes to Bristol to paint with her friends. I managed to have a short chat with her at the Cheltenham Paint Festival recently, and she is a lovely lady. Her working of her name in the Barbie font and colours is brilliant and very tidy indeed. She totally captures the spirit of Barbie in her own way and carries it off very well. Plenty more to come from this fun paint jam.

5440. Brunel Way (223)

Bean, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023
Bean, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023

It was a great pleasure to meet Bean for the first time recently, and this was one of the three pieces he has painted side by side under Brunel Way on three separate occasions. It really is important to emphasise just how good an artist Bean is, and what a significant impact he is making on the Bristol scene in such a short time, having only arrived in the spring this year.

Bean, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023
Bean, Brunel Way, Bristol, August 2023

Bean is equally comfortable with characters or writing, and here he has combined both. His original  characters are creative and imaginative and always on point. Solid fills, great shading and sharp lines contribute to well worked and finished pieces. This particular character appears to be popping out of a spray can, like a Jack-in-a-box, holding a spray can of the same colour. The letters are fabulous too, with great fills and some cool shading at the edges to give a 3D effect. Altogether this piece showcases the talents of this remarkable artist.

5439. Cumberland Basin

Conrico, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2023
Conrico, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2023

Conrico has been very present on the streets of Bristol lately, which is great news for people like me who appreciate the incredible, ever-changing gallery of free art in the city. His unique ‘painted’ style is unlike anything else around, and has a comforting, organic feel to it.

Conrico, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2023
Conrico, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2023

This piece was painted as part of the birthday celebration paint jam for Werm, and shows a girl sitting on some giant petals (or she is a very small person). The piece has a mysterious ethereal quality to it and conveys a sense of calm. Very nice stuff indeed from Conrico.

5438. Greenbank (89)

Waster, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2023
Waster, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2023

I really don’t know very much about Piewaster. I know that he has painted a few pieces in Bristol over the years, but never enough for me to become familiar with his work or identity. This is a recent piece from the hoardings at Greenbank.

Waster, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2023
Waster, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2023

One of the elements that I think might be common to his work is the eyes that decorate the piece. I know of at least two other pieces (probably unpublished on Natural Adventures) by Piewaster and they had the same eyes. The letters spell out WASTER in two style/colour forms, one a hollow blue line WSE, and the other solid grey letters ATR. The whole thing is beautifully painted and is the work of a talented artist.

5437. Dean Lane skate park (632)

Klashwhensober and Bean, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2023
 Klashwhensober and Bean, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2023


In my experience it is unusual to find a Klashwhensober collaborative piece, so this one painted with Bean was a bit of a treat. The letters, spelling S BER, by Klashwhensober, have been augmented with a fabulous cartoon character by Bean, replacing the ‘O’.

Klashwhensober and Bean, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2023
Klashwhensober and Bean, Dean Lane, Bristol, August 2023

Altogether the whole piece is a lot of fun, and is a coming together of two artists who are rather busy with their painting at the moment. Klashwhensober’s letters are filled with a gentle blend of red and pink set on a lilac background. Bean creates some wonderful cartoon characters in a style that is both beautifully finished and recognisable. This is a wonderful collaboration from the two artists.

5436. Cumberland Basin

Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2023
Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2023

A couple of weeks back it was Werm’s birthday, and there was a fabulous turnout of friends and LRS crew to celebrate with a large paint jam. Werm, as usual, turned out an exceptional piece to mark the occasion, in the blue and pink theme colours.

Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2023
Werm, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2023

Werm is continuing with his current form of writing a small WERM at the centre of the piece with elaborate extensions to the letters creating a complex wildstyle burst of terminal arrows. His work is always beautifully designed and turned out, and has come on such a long way since his early character pieces under his Eman moniker. Happy belated birthday.

Cornwall break

Jigsaw puzzle, Hole Farm, Cornwall, August 2023
Jigsaw puzzle, Hole Farm, Cornwall, August 2023

.

Restful holiday

dog walks, puzzles and snoozes

batteries recharged

.

by Scooj

5435. Greenbank (88)

Dator, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2023
Dator, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2023

I got lucky with this piece while walking on my little circuit, taking in the long hoardings at Greenbank. This shorter hoarding is at the entrance to the development site, opposite the cemetary,  and has only recently been ‘decorated’ with graffiti. There was an artist painting a small character piece when I passed, so of course I introduced myself and struck up a conversation. It turns out that the artist was Dator, who paints with the Sunday Lovers, and the character he was painting was next to this piece of writing he had painted the day before.

Dator, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2023
Dator, Greenbank, Bristol, August 2023

Dator told me that he likes to vary his style from piece to piece, so it can be difficult to identify his work, especially as he doesn’t sign it. The letters here say S LOVERS, and is beautifully crafted. The letters have a hint of Claro_que_SSSNOH style about them, which is perhaps not a surprise, as adjacent to this is a piece by him too. The fills are skilfully worked and the whole thing is neat and tidy. Dator is a really nice man and was happy to chat for a while, long enough for the dog to get bored! Now I need to go through my archives and see if I can dig out any unattributed pieces that might have been painted by Dator.